by John Bacon, USA TODAY

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

The mother of slain teen Trayvon Martin added her voice to the "stop and frisk" controversy Sunday, saying New York City's aggressive policy of searches gives police officers the wrong "direction."

Last week a federal judge ruled that the policy was unconstitutional because it disproportionately targets blacks and Hispanics. The city is appealing Judge Shira Scheindlin's decision, arguing the policy targets high-crime neighborhoods and rejecting Scheindlin's finding that the policy is a form of "indirect racial profiling."

Trayvon was 17 when he was fatally shot in a confontation with George Zimmerman, 28, in a gated Florida community. The jury found Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, not guilty on all charges related to the black teen's death.

"You can't give people the authority, where it's a civilian or police officers, the right to stop somebody just because of the color of their skin," Sybrina Fulton said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Scheindlin's ruling could have an impact on stop-and-frisk efforts in other cities. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, speaking on ABC's This Week, warned that the ruling risked reversing the downward trend of violent crime in his city.

"What we're doing â?? and what we're trying to do - is save lives," Kelly said. "Things are going right here in New York. And this decision certainly has the potential of overturning it."

The class-action lawsuit that resulted in the decision was the largest and most broad legal action against the policy the city has seen. While stop and frisk has been established as a constitutional tactic, Scheindlin found that the plaintiffs had "readily established that the NYPD implements its policies regarding stop and frisk in a manner that intentionally discriminates based on race."

There have been about 5 million stops in New York City during the past decade, mostly black and Hispanic men. The judge said she found at least 200,000 stops were made without reasonable suspicion.

Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, said on Meet the Press that the practice in New York was racial profiling, no matter what city officials call it. He said the policy was not responsible for the decline in crime, adding that the practice was "driving a wedge" between police and the black community.

"There are now more stop and frisks of young black men in New York City than there are young black men in New York City," Jealous said.

Kelly stressed that no one is stopped without a reason.

"Nobody wants to be stopped," Kelly said. "We have engaged in a major training evolution for several years, focusing on these issues, to do these stops with courtesy, do them with respect."